First Days of School
by fowl68
Summary: I TOLD you we should have stopped for gas at that last rest stop. SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, not even the idea because this happened to my best friend and me.

**Author's Note:** First day of freshman year and I'm writing. I have so many issues. 

-!-!-!-!

"_The obvious is the least understood."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

The school was enormous, buildings towering over the freshman. The uniform itched, and Naruto was constantly shrugging and fidgeting to try and ease the annoyance. He refused to wear the tie and the shoes were a size too big so his feet could actually breathe.

The first thing Naruto noticed when he walked into the classroom was the large crowd of girls surrounding a single desk and Naruto smirked slightly. He sauntered over to the desk, already knowing who was there. When he finally caught a glimpse of the obsidian eyes who were practically _begging_ for help, Naruto grinned roguishly and tapped a brunette girl on the shoulder. She turned and shot him a dirty look.

Keeping the grin on his face, he said, "Excuse me, but haven't you heard? Hyuuga Neji is staying in room 2B. I hear he's real lonely."

The crowd immediately dispersed and Sasuke shot his best friend a grateful slight smile.

"What would you do without me?"

"Probably get raped is what. Those girls are insane." Sasuke let his forehead fall gently onto the cool wood of the desk, "And stupid."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, you'd think they would've gotten that you're not into girls."


	2. Slip

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** This actually happened to me today from all the rain that this tropical storm has been blowing in.

-!-!-!-!

"_Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about going out there and dancing in the rain."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

It was an accident waiting to happen in Sasuke's opinion. The rain had been constant these past couple of days and today Naruto decided he was going to go around and run in the rain. He and Kiba kept trying to make the biggest splash in the puddles and Sasuke wondered how they ever got to high school.

Naruto's blonde hair stuck to his face, the cerulean eyes bright with laughter as he made a particularly large splash that got Kiba wet up to his waist. The bell rang, unheard by many of the students, but Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the back of his jacket and began half-dragging him to class. Their Algebra 1 teacher was not someone to be messed with on days like these.

When they entered the small classroom, Sasuke released Naruto, who promptly shook off the excess water like a dog. He'd been spending too much time with Kiba.

-?-?-?-?

"I'm _starving._"

"We heard you the twelfth time, Naruto. It's not our fault the line is really slow." Sakura told them from her rather comfortable position leaning on the metal bars that defined the line.

Naruto let his head gently fall on his own section of the bars and groaned. A slice of cheese pizza really wasn't worth this. A sudden familiar hand lightly tapped his shoulder and Naruto jumped out of reflex had him jumping around and he soon felt the world disappear from under him. The cold wet tile was under him and he could see Sasuke's raised eyebrows.

"Only you, Naruto. Only you." He said, offering him a hand up.

"Stupid wet, non-slipping sneakers." Naruto muttered, pulling himself p with the proffered hand.

"Dobe." Sasuke breathed in his ear as Naruto stood directly in front of him and Naruto shot him a glare, but there was a smile on his lips.


	3. Guitar

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** This actually happened to me yesterday, except for the falling on someone part.

-!-!-!-!

"_Music- magic beyond what we do here."-Albus Dumbledore_

-!-!-!-!

When Naruto had signed them both up for Guitar 1, Sasuke had simply half-glared at him. The blonde knew that he already knew how to play guitar, but Naruto had stated simply that Sasuke needed to show other people he could.

When the teacher (His name was Iruka or something) went around asking if anyone thought they were good enough to go to Guitar 2, Sasuke simply leaned back in the uncomfortable plastic chairs and crossed his arms, pretending not to notice Naruto's grateful smile two seats over.

Iruka taught them their chords, and Sasuke would trade seats with that Gaara kid, the one with the brilliantly red hair, so as to help Naruto out. The Uchiha would point out the strings, the finger positions and Naruto would pout as he told Sasuke that he was lucky that he had those musician fingers, long and elegant. His own were shorter and thicker, making it harder to wrap around the guitar's neck and hold down the right strings.

Naruto hadn't noticed it when Iruka had passed by, ready to help him, but then he saw the brunette patiently positioning his fingers and kept walking, but Sasuke did, and that made him smile a little.

It was at the end of class that Naruto's jacket, tied around his waist in the powerful end of summer heat, caught on his guitar as he rose to get his bookbag causing him to jerk forward, and fall onto Sasuke. The guitar would have followed him had Gaara not grabbed the guitar and quickly untangled the jacket from the strings.

"This is your fault." Sasuke reminded him, kissing him lightly and swiftly before pushing him off gently.

The blonde blushed slightly before muttering, "Yeah, blame it all on me, teme."

Sasuke smirked at him and tossed him his bookbag. "Come on. We'll miss lunch."


	4. Spirit Week Pt 1

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** Welcome to our high school.  And if you wanna see the pictures, they're up on my Myspace. The link is on my profile.

-!-!-!-!

"_Define interesting."_

"_Oh God, oh God, we're all gonna die?"-Mal and Wash__**(Serenity)**_

-!-!-!-!

**Day One- Pajama Day**

Sasuke almost felt like falling asleep. This class was far too easy for him and he always finished early, so he was constantly looking for something to amuse him. Usually, Naruto's antics were more than enough, but the blonde had decided to lay his head down and sleep. Sasuke was about two minutes from following his example. The atmosphere was sleepier today, something that surprised no one. It was Spirit Week and today was Pajama Day. Naruto had gone all out, wearing his black and white sleeping cap, orange and blue plaid sweatpants and a too big black T-shirt with a white dragon on the front.

Sasuke had simply worn loose black sweatpants with a red stripe going down the side and a black shirt with the Uchiha fan on it. He'd still worn his sneakers, unlike Naruto, who had worn large, bright green fluffy slippers. The brunette wouldn't admit anything of course, but he honestly wished that he could see Naruto looking that cute more. Smirking a bit, Sasuke reached out and snatched the sleeping cap off of his blonde's head and the smirk only widened when the Caribbean blue eyes peeked out from the eyelids and the familiar voice murmured, "Ne…S'suke….give back m'hat."

**Day Two-Twin Day**

Naruto had suggested wildly that the two of them should be twins. Sasuke had simply looked at him with the look that said 'You're joking.'

"I'm serious, teme! I could dye my hair black and get Sakura to do something to make my skin a little paler, and we could pull it off!"

"No."

"Or we could be Thing One and Thing Two. That'd be real easy."

"I am _**not**_ wearing bright red and a blue curly wig."

A sly smile came to Naruto's lips. "We could be cheerleaders, Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't reply, trying to banish the images away.

**Day Three-Wacky Wednesday**

When Sasuke got to the bus stop, he didn't recognize the person leaning against the wall lazily. The only thing familiar were the colors-goldenrod air had been lengthened(somehow) and was tied into two pigtails, bright blue eyes smirking mischievously at him and the tanned, whiskered face.

"Surprised, Sasuke?"

"That's a severe understatement."

Naruto pulled off a girl amazingly well. The skirt was short, falling about three inches above the knee with bright orange and black leggings. And somehow, he'd managed to make it appear as if he had breasts(and he made it incredibly convincing) with the shirt tied to expose his toned midriff.

"I cannot _believe_ you actually did this."

Naruto laughed. "Exactly. If you can't believe it, who will?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He'd come in a black suit jacket with a semi-transparent sparkly top hat with a white T-shirt underneath. He carried his Guitar Hero guitar with him and had sunglasses with a mustache Itachi had Sharpie'd on him. He'd found a black tie with neon blue skulls at the dollar store and wore that as well.

"What's with the glittery hat?" The cerulean eyes were questioning.

"I dunno. I just grabbed stuff out off my closet."

Blonde eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You can't expect me to believe that you keep a black and blue skull tie and a glittery top hat in your closet. Nice mustache by the way. Very sexy." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke smirked a bit. "I'm glad you think so." And kissed him, tasting cherry chapstick.

**Author's Note:** Here's half the week. Next chapter's gonna have the rest.


	5. Spirit Week Pt 2

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** Welcome to our high school.  And if you wanna see the pictures, they're up on my Myspace. The link is on my profile. The Scooby Doo idea was one we have for next year, so things might get interesting.

-!-!-!-!

"_Do you wanna run this ship?"_

"_Yes!"_

"…_Well…You can't."-Mal and Jayne__**(Serenity)**_

-!-!-!-!

**Day Four-Blast From the Past**

"…Naruto."

The blonde looked over at his best friend/boyfriend. "Yeah, Sasuke?"

"Do I wanna know?"

A grin tugged at Naruto's lips. "You can't tell me you don't like it."

Sasuke couldn't deny that. His dobe was wearing a long brown tail that curled down around his ankles with two pointy ears and a blue collar around his neck that read SD.

"I'm still not believing it."

Naruto laughed. "Come on, you can't tell me you never wanted to be Scooby Doo."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto's grin changed to a smirk. "What's with the leather jacket anyway? Are you supposed to be from Grease?"

"Itachi's idea. And it's not nearly as bad as Gai-sensei and Lee's hippie afro thing."

Naruto pointed behind him. "I already saw it. And I got two words to say about it."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Ruh Roh."

**Day Five-Spirit Day**

Both Naruto and Sasuke felt awkward in the house shirts they'd been issued. It was a far cry from their normal colors. White and maroon with the hawk emblazoned on the front with their house name on the back.

Naruto had made it bearable and had asked Sasuke to Sharpie his cheeks with the school initials and 2012 with a claw on it. If it had been anyone else, Sasuke wouldn't have done it, but it being Naruto made it that much harder. The whiskers were interrupting the lines but Sasuke had a feeling that that's what Naruto wanted. Neither had much pride for their school(the football team sucked) but why not? It was practically a free day with that pep rally that Naruto hadn't been able to find a cheerleader to get the tickets from.

"Ne, Sasuke?"

The brunette hmm'd in acknowledgement, not looking up from his guitar.

"Do you happen to know the school anthem on your guitar?"

That made Sasuke look up and raise his eyebrows.

"I have a plan!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and flipped open the book they were given in Guitar 1 to the school anthem and began playing, the notes smooth and strong. When Naruto, who usually had quite the singing voice, started wailing the remix, Sasuke suppressed a smile. Of course Naruto would want to kill the school song on Spirit Day. But when the principal came by, glaring for all it was worth, Naruto's voice switched abruptly to the angel tones that Sasuke knew he could sing with the right words and the principal kept walking. A mischievous grin spread across the tanned, Sharpie'd face and Sasuke released the hand that had been strumming and tugged Naruto down by the shirt collar and kissed him thoroughly. The principal caught them and sent them both to detention, away from the impossible noise of the pep rally nearby, for breaking the 'no public displays of affection' rule.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Did you plan that?"

The innocent expression on Naruto's face said it all. "What, you mean getting us sent to an empty classroom where we won't get disturbed and killing the school song in one swing? That doesn't sound like me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He really could never know what to expect with his boyfriend.


	6. Haunted Hospital

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** We had a haunted house today, an early Halloween present! Happy early Halloween!

-!-!-!-!

"_The oldest and greatest fear of mankind is fear of the unknown."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

Naruto tapped the pencil faster against the desk, fighting down his annoyance. The humming hadn't started out too bad, incredibly quiet, but now it was steadily getting louder. Glancing involuntarily at Sasuke, he ripped his gaze away and focused on the problems sitting in front of him.

_8y+y18 + 15_

Gritting his teeth in frustration and envy (Sasuke was a real math whiz and was telling him to solve one problem of the 30 they'd been assigned correctly and he could get the rest of the answers. Taking a deep, calming breath, Naruto leaned back, Sasuke in his peripheral vision. Sasuke was mouthing the words to some song on his iPod and at Naruto's inquiring look, he held up the music player and lit up the screen, showing the title This is Halloween.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He loved that movie, but Sasuke couldn't hum for anything, despite his aptitude for music. Sasuke smirked, almost reading his thoughts. Naruto glared at him and forced himself to look at the problem again. It was another fifteen minutes when the humming got on his nerves once again and Naruto turned and swiftly pressed his lips against Sasuke, effectively stilling the humming vocal cords.

Sasuke pulled away slightly, smirk widening, and said, 'If you'd rather do that in math rather than the work, you should have said something."

"Detention?"

Not that they really had a choice with their math teacher looming over them, but they had the dignity and good grace to act like they were ashamed.

-?-?-?-?

Naruto cocked his head in the direction of the screams. "The haunted house started up."

"I heard it was real scary." Sasuke remarked from his place at the window. He didn't need to turn to his boyfriend to know the mischievous grin was there.

"I know the back way in. We could go in and spook some people."

Sasuke turned and stood to face the blonde. "That's insane."

Naruto shrugged and casually got up. "Ah, well. I thought you'd like the opportunity to scare the fangirls."

"I'll get raped!" Sasuke protested, trying to tell himself he wasn't interested.

"Not if we disguise you."

-?-?-?-?

"This is ridiculous." Sasuke told him.

Naruto laughed quietly. "Relax. You hardly look like you. If anything, I think you could pass for the girl from the ring."

Sasuke half-glared at him. He'd allowed Naruto to play with the spare make-up and supplies. The blonde had cleaned Sasuke's hair of gel, letting it fall to his chin and applied black make-up just underneath his eyes, creating a hollow effect. He'd added a little white make-up to make Sasuke's face just a little paler, a little scarier. There'd been spare clothes and they were both in hospital clothes.

Sasuke had gotten to use whatever was left and had darkened Naruto's hair to a muddier color, streaking blood red into it. He added red to appear as if blood was dripping from the scars on his cheeks and had done something similar to Naruto's face, although it took a lot more to make it white.

Naruto grinned foxily at him before settling his face into a perfectly bland mask and walking through the door into the waiting room. The grin widened mentally as he saw Sakura, Ino and a new girl named Karin sitting on the couches. Sasuke came behind him and they both, at the same time with a deadpan voice said, "The doctor will see you now."

Temari was the doctor, nearly completely unrecognizable with her hair pulled pack into a loose ponytail, face painted like theirs and the stark white hospital clothes. At the sight of them, she'd given them a quick questioning look before leading them all into the haunted hospital. White screens set up barriers a little away from the walls. Silhouettes were seen of people getting strangled and stabbed, of someone dying of a seizure. A door that Naruto and Sasuke both knew was a janitor's closet had a DO NOT ENTER sign on it and rattling came from inside. Naruto smirked inwardly, knowing that they'd had to lock Kankurou in there for him to do it.

Tenten sat on the floor, hair loose around her face, and looked up with staring eyes. In front of her and all on the walls were drawings depicting death. "Do you like my pictures?" She asked, her voice hoarse and high.

The boys had the distinct pleasure of watching the girls shudder and press against each other, eyes wide with fear. They shot each other a quick smirk before Naruto came up, perfectly silent, and grabbed Sakura's arm, making her jump and scream.

Naruto smiled creepily, showing all of his slightly larger canines, where Sasuke had also stuck some fake blood. "I like you." He made his own voice a little higher, a little silkier to go with the facade. "Come with me."

Naruto led them to the Psych Ward and there was Gaara, who really didn't need to do much. He stood there, leaning against the wall, a jacket hood pulled up over his blood-red hair. His naturally shadowed eyes followed the girls' movements slowly. Naruto remembered having to beg him to do it, even having to pull out the ever so deadly Bambi eyes.

Iruka, who'd paled his face and let "blood" drip from his scar, and had pulled on a "bloody" hospital gown and was laid out on a cot, eyes closed. They passed and he didn't move. Naruto and Sasuke crowded the girls into another room, one where Lee, Gai and their Foreign Cultures teacher Genma crawled out, smiles wide and unmoving. The girls screamed and ran out, and this time that they passed Iruka, he shot up, grabbing Ino's wrist. Kakashi, creepy even without the atmosphere, shot a spray of ait into Karin's face and they all sprinted out shrieking.

-?-?-?-?

Naruto scrubbed at the stubborn red in his hair. Sasuke did too good a job. He was afraid it was in there permanently. Sasuke was gently washing the make-up from both their faces and after he was done, reached up and helped.

"This is all your fault, teme."

Sasuke kissed him lightly. "No it's not. You suggested it."

"It was your infernal humming."

Sasuke chuckled a little and kissed him harder.


	7. Scuba

First Days of School

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** My Biology teacher is a scuba diver, so she let us try on her gear. The pictures are on my Myspace, if anyone's interested. The URL is on my profile.

-!-!-!-!

"_Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, professionals built the Titanic and amateurs built the ark."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

Sasuke caught Naruto by the collar as they entered Biology. There were two oxygen tanks attached to jackets sitting on some stools at the front of the class.

"Aw, c'mon, Sasuke. Those would be so cool to try on." Naruto told him, big blue eyes shining.

"Nope. Sit down."

Naruto pouted, but did what he said, pulling out his Biology binder with difficulty. His bookbag was filled with books, the current largest one being Artemis Fowl. Sasuke had told him over and over not to carry so many books, but he couldn't help it. Naruto loved to read too much.

"Alright, guys. Seeing as how we're doing scuba, I decided to bring in some gear for you guys to try on." Naruto's looked up immediately from the bookbag to look at their teacher. Their teacher was relatively young, in their twenties. Despite common belief, their teacher was a guy…just a really really pretty one. Haku was his name. He'd been a diver for years, usually in colder places. Naruto had seen his mentor/fiancée a few doors down, Zabuza, one of the naval military strategies teachers, once or twice. Most of the school didn't know, but Sasuke and Naruto were usually in on almost everything. And neither teen was willing to deny that Haku really was pretty, definitely.

"Any volunteers?" Haku asked, the chocolate eyes almost automatically landing on Naruto. The teacher knew that the blonde was an eager kid.

Predictably, Naruto jumped up, dragging Sasuke with him. "H-hey! Naruto!"

Naruto shot him a grin and continued to drag him. Sasuke decided to just let it go. He'd been a little curious himself.

"Ne, Naruto, you're kind of short, so you're going to want the smaller tank." Haku advised him, smiling at the slight glare shot his way.

Sasuke shrugged on the jacket, and cautiously stood straight before hurriedly leaning forward. The oxygen tank wasn't very heavy, only about five pounds, but it was distributed strangely, making it rather awkward to walk with. Haku laughed slightly at Naruto's struggling before going to help, inflating the jacket slightly, making Naruto jump…or try to jump. The extra five or so pounds had impaired his jumping ability.

Finally, Naruto stood, hunched over, grinning widely. "Ne, Haku-sensei! Take a picture!"

Haku liked to take pictures of his students, putting them on the class's website. It was usually of experiments and them working, but with stuff like this, it simply had to be done. Haku dug through his drawers, finding the digital camera. Naruto leaned on Sasuke's higher shoulder as a pose, surprising the brunette slightly and making him get off balance.

And, of course, this caused them both to topple over, wincing at the sound of the metal on tile and at the pain in their body. Naruto had landed on Sasuke side, the paler teen's ribs poking into his stomach. The class erupted into laughter and even Haku was trying to hide a smile.

Sasuke sighed and glared in a way that was angry to any eyes other than Naruto. "Why me?"

Naruto laughed and kissed his shoulder. "Because I love you, teme, that's why."


	8. Sketches

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** It feels good to be going back to karate on a regular basis again. I missed it so much.

-!-!-!-!

"_Art is pictures straight from the heart."_ _Ben, Los Cerros Middle School, 1999_

-!-!-!-!

This was such a quiet place. Naruto didn't often find them. The high school was certainly not quiet, and he liked to get out of his house. It wasn't that his parents were bad, it was just that there was only so much time someone could spend at home.

Someone passed underneath his spot on the tree and Naruto smiled. It was a kid, probably not much older than one or so, with charcoal hair and ashy eyes. Behind him was a person he recognized, Kurenai-sensei. She'd left on maternity leave last year. So that was her Asuma-sensei's kid? Interesting. Asuma was a counselor at their high school, something that Naruto could never understand. Wasn't his job to disapprove of smoking, yet he always seemed to have a cigarette on him.

A familiar chin on his shoulder made him half-turn. "How'd you find me?"

"Did you not want me to?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't mind. I just thought this place was pretty inconspicuous."

"Not to me. What's in your lap?"

Naruto shifted the notepad from view. "Nothing."

The thin, dark eyebrows rose. "You're a terrible liar, ya know. Lemme see."

Naruto felt a hand pass his waist to reach around and grab the pad and let the pad slip from his fingers. Sasuke scooted a little closer to Naruto so he wasn't as in danger of falling from the tree and flipped open to the first page. An elegant sight met his eyes.

Obsidian colored eyes stared straight back at him, rippling muscles under dark fur defined. The tail was hanging lowly off a branch, paws folded under a feline head.

"You drew this?"

"I gotta be good at something if you're so good at guitar."

Sasuke hm'ed in response as he continued to flip through. There was some schoolwork (Key word being 'some') and always there was doodles everywhere. Flowerpots, shoes, kids, houses, the sky. Panthers and foxes, usually together, were recurring and drawn in patient loving detail. The drawings got more childish as he continued through, more hesitant. There were pictures in a neighborhood that Sasuke didn't recognize and of forests and deserts, all from high places.

"The air's cleaner the higher up you go." Naruto explained when Sasuke asked why. "And there's a different perspective of things up there."

The next few were darker, like doorways in alleys and of lonely bridges, snow falling gently. The trees would be more barren, the streets icy.

"Something wrong?" Naruto enquired, not being able to see over the dark spikes.

"No, not really. But I've never seen some of these places."

Naruto squirmed a little. "We lived there years back, when I was a kid. We used to hang out in places like that all the time."

Sasuke turned to look at him, before wrapping his free arm around the blonde's waist. "Not so cold here, is it?"

A smile broke on the whiskered face. "No, it's not."

They sat in silence for a while, the notepad closed in front of them.

Sasuke smirked and Naruto felt that there was going to be some revenge extracted from the scuba incident. "So what's with all the panthers and foxes?"

"Nothing." Naruto's answer was a little too fast.

The smirk widened. "Suuure it is."


	9. Kyuu

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** This really did happen yesterday. We found a kitten and we named it Mystique, because it was black with blue eyes. She thought I was her mother, but I had to leave her with the teacher. :( And I have recently gotten an account on Fictionpress under the same name, if anyone's interested.

-!-!-!-!

"_Best friend: if I could reach up and take a star for every time you have made me smile, I would have the entire night sky in my hands."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

Fourth period health—no student's idea of a favorite class; especially this health class that was across the school near the ISS portables. Naruto, luckily, had Biology upstairs in the building nearby. His bookbag had been lightened by a quick trip to his locker to drop of some textbooks. Climbing the three quick steps up to the portable, he heard a sound that was not generally found in classrooms—a mewing kind of sound. Dropping his bookbag in his chair, Naruto jogged up to the teacher, Guy, who was holding a bundle which, by the brilliantly green color, was his jacket.

"Ne, is that a cat?" Naruto peered into the bundle and two pale green eyes peered up at him.

"Nope. Fox kit, actually." Guy gently transferred the bundle into Naruto's arms.

The fox was rather tiny. It could sit easily in the palm of one of Naruto's hands. As he wriggled out of the cocoon of blankets, Naruto noticed that while he would certainly have to be wild, his coat was silky and soft to the touch. The kit's stomach was a streak of white, as well as his muzzle and the tip of his tail, but the rest of him was a warm orange-brown save for the muzzle and his paws, which were a splash of black.

Naruto smiled as the fox climbed up his chest and nuzzled his neck. "Does he-she?-have a name?"

Guy shook his head. "I'll leave that up to you. She seems extremely attracted to your fiery spirit of youth." He refrained from yelling so as not to scare the small animal.

"Ah, so you're a she." Naruto grasped the kit around the middle, lifting it up to eye level. The kit mewed again, lightly pawing his lips.

"We got a class pet now?" Sasuke asked from the door.

Naruto bounced over, carefully with the fox, and showed the Uchiha. "Nope. Guy found her. Speaking of which," Naruto turned to look at their teacher, the kit still remaining interested in Sasuke. "Where did you find her?"

"Under the portable. It was my planning period and I heard it crying. Found it and got some milk from the cafeteria to feed it."

Sasuke offered a hand to the fox. The fox pulled itself over Naruto's bicep to inspect the pale appendage before gingerly onto Sasuke's palm.

"She's light." Sasuke remarked, setting her on his shoulder.

"She likes you, Sasuke!" Naruto told him as the kit curled itself up on his shoulder.

"Does she have a name yet?"  
Naruto shrugged and shook his head. "We got nothing."

"Her eyes look like fireflies though. Hotaru, maybe?"

Naruto rolled the word around, changing the infliction before shaking his head again. "Nah. Doesn't quite fit."

Other students were trickling into the room. "Naruto, Sasuke, I'm leaving you guys in charge of her for the day. She seems quiet with the two of you."

The two nodded and took a seat at the teacher's desk, where Guy was keeping the milk. Many of the girls cooed over it before Naruto told them it bit and they scurried back to their seats.

The kit pawed at Sasuke's bangs and Naruto stifled a laugh before gently taking it. "You can't do that, okay? Sasuke doesn't like that."

She licked his cheek and Naruto chuckled. "That tickles." He told her.

Naruto continued to play with her, allowing her to climb and clamber on him, even letting her settle into his hair. Sasuke let the tiniest of smiles cross his lips as he watched his boyfriend play with the small animal.

"Kyuu."

Naruto and the kit looked at him. "What?"

"Kyuu. That should be her name."

Naruto lifted her up to eye level again. "How's Kyuu sound to you?"

She mewed and licked his cheek. Naruto laughed and nodded. "Sounds like she likes it. Kyuu it is."


	10. Jessamyn and Asher

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** We found more kittens! There's four of them now; Mystique, Pebbles, Bam-bam, and Miracle. I miss my kittens. : ( And I have been SUPER lazy with this story, so a lot of these events are a few months old.

-!-!-!-!

_Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, __**Journals**__**,**__ 1843_

-!-!-!-!

Naruto crawled forward underneath the portable. He'd never known it was so cramped down here! No wonder they absolutely needed him, he was the smallest person in the class, with his growth spurt not yet kicking in. The mewing sound was coming from somewhere above him and it wasn't easy to pinpoint the source.

"It's fine if you cut open the insulation, Naruto. You need to find that fox." Gai assured him. The tall man was hunched by the side of the portable, along with the rest of their class. Gai had sent him with scissors to find the fox that could be heard mewing from inside the portable.

The mewing came again, this time almost directly above him. Naruto carefully cut a slit in the insulation and two pairs of frightened, glowing eyes met his. Naruto pocketed the scissors and slowly, so as not to scare them further, reached a hand up and gently scooted them forward so he could catch them both in his jacket.

"Did you find him?" Lee, a tall kid that dressed and acted like Gai, called.  
"There's two!" Naruto replied, crawling backwards, eyes on the ground and the kits to make sure that he didn't step on anything sharp. As he slipped out from beneath the portable, Sasuke reached down and took the bundle that was Naruto's orange jacket with the two kits from him in one arm and offering a hand up with the other. Naruto accepted the help up, his face dusty and pupils dilated because of the sudden light.

Sasuke turned so that his back was to the sun and uncovered the bundle and looked at both kits. One was a raggedy gray with a black-tipped tail. It had crystalline blue eyes, like a Siberian husky. The other's fur was closer to brown than red and had bright green eyes. Sasuke recognized the underlying gleam in those eyes; it was one that Naruto got often when he had a prank in mind. The darker one was a troublemaker, no doubt about it.

Gai looked at the kits. The yellow fluff of insulation was tangled into their matted fur and they were thinner than Kyuu had been. "Sasuke, Naruto, go clean these foxes up and beg some milk from the cafeteria."

"Sure."

Both of them set off down the hallway, Naruto taking the darker fox. "We're gonna need names for these too, ya know." Naruto held up the fox. "I think this one's a girl."

Sasuke agreed. Anything with that ready-for-trouble gleam was either female or pure evil.

"Ne, Sasuke, whaddaya think of the name Jessamyn?"

"Where'd you come up with that?"

"Found it in a book."

"You read the oddest books. Got a guy's name?"

Naruto studied the gray fox. "How's Asher sound to you?"

"That sounds like a husky's name or something. But sure."

"Here, I'll wash them up." Naruto gently plucked Asher from Sasuke's arms. "You go beg for milk."

"You're better at begging than I am."

Naruto grinned at him lopsidedly. "Yeah, but who could ever resist you? You're so _charming._"

"Mmhmm." Sasuke began heading for the cafeteria, while Naruto jogged up the stairs to their Biology class. Haku-sensei wouldn't be able to resist helping Asher and Jessamyn. Haku looked up from his papers that he was grading, raising his eyebrows. "More of them, Naruto?"

"Not our fault. Akamaru's barking was the only reason we knew they were down there."

"Just make sure they don't shed in my sinks."

Naruto set down the kits, making sure that they were far away enough from the sink's edge that they didn't decide to jump. It turned out he didn't need to worry. Jessamyn wasn't going anywhere, looking warily into the sink and Asher was more concerned with pawing at the taps.

Naruto took several paper towels, wet them, and gently ran it over Jessamyn's fur, lightly tugging at the knots and picking out the insulation. Jessamyn hissed at the cold water and gave him a cat's version of a glare. Naruto ignored it. He was too accustomed to Sasuke glaring at him for that to affect him anymore. A sudden powerful spray of water that got both Naruto and Jessamyn absolutely soaked made Naruto blink at Asher, who had a foxy version of a grin on his furry features.

Two voices chuckling made all three turn to look towards the front of the room. Haku was muffling a laugh in his hand, brown eyes sparkling with mirth and Sasuke had two cartons of white milk in his hands, a smirk on his lips.

"You two are so much help." Naruto remarked dryly, reaching for Asher. Asher leapt away from his hand and darted beneath the stools.

Both of the darker haired males moved to help, Sasuke setting the milk down on the black tabletops. Haku crouched down, reaching slowly for the kit. The wary blue eyes narrowed before he neared the man. Just as Haku was about to pick him up, Asher sprinted away, crawling up Sasuke's pant leg. The Uchiha jumped a bit at the surprising sensation, his hand knocking the milk cartons and making them hit the floor, breaking open. Naruto, who moved forward to help Sasuke, slipped on the milk, pulling Sasuke down with him. The blonde let out an "Oof." As the wind was knocked out of him when Sasuke crashed down on him.

Haku, laughing, went to help them up, but they tried to get up at the same time, so their flailing legs tripped Haku, which made him fall face forward as well, landing beside them.

As they all lay there, stunned and laughter beginning to bubble from their lips, Asher crawled forward and licked milk from Sasuke's ear while Jessamyn did the same to Naruto's cheek.

"Do I want to know?" A deep, amused voice asked from the door.

All three looked up to see Zabuza standing there with arms crossed. He was a tall, muscular man with tanned skin and very dark eyes.

"No, not really." All three replied before bursting into laughter once more.

-/-/-/-/-/

**A/N:** Yeah, I know it's been a while since I updated this. I just kinda forgot to keep updating this. But my freshman year of high school is done in four days! So I will update this for every one of those days left.


	11. Student Only Salon

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note: **My poor friend…he can't cut his own hair for anything (especially with a razor), so we had to do it for him. It was a great use of time 2nd period.

-!-!-!-!

_It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson_

-!-!-!-!

As soon as Naruto and Sasuke sat down in their chairs in Guitar, they immediately noticed something different about the person at the end of the row. Naruto tilted his head to the side and he arched his eyebrows.

"…Gaara?"

The sea green eyes looked over at him as though expecting the question.

"What happened to your hair?"

"My sister decided I needed a haircut. She forgot to take into account her skills, or lack thereof, of hair cutting skills."

He wasn't lying. His brilliantly red hair hadn't been all that long, just long enough to brush his eyes of it fell forward and Gaara could tame his hair easily enough. But Naruto knew Gaara's sister, Temari and she wasn't one he would trust for this sort of thing. If he ever needed a girl at his back for a fight, then he'd pick Temari, but for feminine things like this….no. Now the crimson locks were shaggy and uneven, brushing his ears.

Slowly, so Gaara could pull away if he wanted to, Naruto reached for the shaggy hair. Gaara didn't move and Naruto tried to run his fingers through the soft hair, finding he couldn't.

"Hold on." Naruto said, crossing the room to where a girl was practicing the music that they were all supposed to know for the concert next week. "Ne, Hinata, you wouldn't happen to have a comb and some hairspray on you, would you?"

Pale eyes looked up at him, startled and the pale cheeks dusted themselves over with a pink flush. "Um…no hairspray, but I h-have a comb. I-in my bookbag." Hinata set the guitar down, and dug through her white bookbag with purple flowers sewn into it. She pulled out a plain navy blue comb.

As Naruto took the comb, he smiled brightly. "Thanks, Hinata. You're amazing!"

He didn't notice her blush deepening as he walked towards Iruka. The teacher looked at the blonde with an expectant look. "What is it, Naruto?"

"Ne, you wouldn't happen to have some scissors that I can borrow? And can I get a pass for three to the bathroom?"

"What's happened?" Iruka handed him some scissors off of his desk and brought out the pad of pink pads and began filling it out.

"We need to give Gaara a haircut."

Iruka glances at the redhead and looks back at Naruto. "And you want me to trust you to make it better?"  
"Hey! I can cut hair!" Naruto mumbled his next words. "Sasuke's helping too."

A smile tugged at Iruka's lips. "Is he? Then I guess I can't say no. Just don't make it worse, alright?" Iruka stumbled a bit as Naruto hugged him, quick and tight.

Naruto returned to his boyfriend and Gaara. "C'mon."

They both stood automatically, but Sasuke asked, "Where're we going?"

"Bathroom." Naruto held up the scissors and the comb. "We're gonna be hair stylists for a period."

Gaara's face didn't change, but there was a look in his eyes that told Naruto that he was wondering whether he should trust the blonde or not. Apparently he decided he could because Gaara followed him to the bathroom, Sasuke sighing and copying the motion.

The Arts building was perhaps the oddest building in the entire school. Here, there were no separate classes, no set curriculums. If you needed to learn something, you went to the classroom next door and learned it from either the teacher or from one of the other students. The hallways were free game, always in use for practice, for competitions and for just sitting and working on whatever you needed to work on. Six rooms were dedicated to practice, three with pianos already inside. The doors were heavier and the glass in them was soundproof. Woodshop was jus beside the Drama room, so that the students wouldn't have to carry any props across the building. They'd tried that once. They never tried it again. The bathrooms were the cleanest in the school, something that all of the students who had the building loved.

Naruto took a stool from the band room and brought it with them into the bathroom. Gently, he pushed Gaara to sit on it.

"Your sister can't cut hair for anything." He told the redhead, tugging at the tangles with the comb.

"I'm well aware."

Sasuke leaned back against the sinks, arms crossed across his stomach. "So what exactly are you planning to do with his hair, Naruto?"  
Naruto paused in his untangling for a moment before resuming and saying, "I hadn't thought about it."

"Nice one, dobe."

"Hey, it can't turn out worse than this." Naruto winced at his own words. "Sorry, Gaara."

"No, you're right. It's the last time I let Temari cut my hair."

"Did she even use scissors?"

"No, a razor."

Naruto groaned. "Why did she use a razor of all things?"

Gaara shrugged and Naruto sighed and stepped back to consider the red hair. He'd never had much to do with hairstylists. He hadn't had his hair cut by someone else since before his parents died. Since then, whenever it bothered him, he'd cut it messily short. He could do that to Gaara, but the soft, crimson locks between his fingers wouldn't look good messy with the pale elegance of his face. It was a face similar to Sasuke's and the blue eyes looked directly at the onyx ones.'

"Dobe, you're insane." Sasuke told him flatly, reading his intentions on the whiskered face.

"Come on, we don't have a choice."

"What're you guys doing?" The voice was new and female.

All three heads turned to see Tenten leaning on the doorframe with eyebrows raised. Her baggy cargo pants hung low on her hips and her T-shirt was a few sizes too big.

"Gaara needs a haircut." Naruto explained.

Tenten walked closer to take a look. "_That's_ what Temari was talking about in first period." She fingered the uneven ends. "Yeah, Gaara, you do need a haircut."

Naruto offered her the scissors. "Can you help?"

"I might be able to, but no promises. It'll definitely come out better than Temari's handiwork for sure."

She took Gaara's hair and carefully cut, never measuring like Naruto remembered the hair stylists doing. Naruto has to praise Tenten for her steady woodshop hands, because she handles the scissors with an ease that spoke of long hours of detailed woodwork with Asuma-sensei.

Nearing the end of the period, Tenten steps back and combs out the hair one last time. Naruto and Sasuke had to approve of the end result. Gaara's hair was much shorter and a little messy, but there was something about it that was purely Gaara that made it work.

Gaara ran a hand through the short red locks and he nodded his approval. "Temari's going to kill you." He warned her.

"Probably." Tenten agreed and looked down at the bathroom floor that was littered with short pieces of red hair. "We need to clean all this up now. And find a way to explain it to the other teachers" The teachers in the Art building wouldn't find it too out of the ordinary. Stranger things had happened in the Drama room where the stage and its seats were full of paper ball wars and tag.

All four of them looked at the hair with the long-suffering look of laziness and just not feeling like it. With a collective sigh, they all bent to begin to clean up.

Nearly ten minutes later, the floor was clean when Iruka and Asuma came to check on them. You couldn't trust the prankster with willing accomplices to be out of the classroom for too long. And Tenten had been supposed to deliver something to the Band teacher, an errand that wasn't supposed to take more than five minutes.

All four of them were sitting comfortably by the wall across the bathroom, discussing something. Naruto looked up and grinned. "Ne, do you think we'd be able to start a student-only hair salon in here?"


	12. Dancing in the Rain

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note: **This concert was last week. Both guitar classes (advanced and beginner) did horrible. None of us were even denying it. But we had fun trying to find out cars in the parking lot in the rain after dark. My friend decided to do the Electric Slide in the rain. Warning for the other clumsy people, like me and my friend: Don't do the electric slide in the rain. You will fall. And everyone, including yourself, will laugh.

-!-!-!-!

_  
"__She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain." –Ricky Martin__** (Livin' La Vida Loca)**_

-~-~-~-~

"Am I the only one that's thinking we did horrible?" Naruto asked out loud, twenty minutes after their guitar concert.

There were the most interesting things backstage. Squishy couches that Drama had used for Peter Pan; a gong, enormous drums and capes that most of them had already decided that they wanted because they were velvety and elegantly black. Why they had the drums, the gong and the capes, none of them knew, but they weren't complaining.

"No." Came the chorus from those sitting on the couches.

All were dressed in formal attire under strict threats of death by homework from Iruka. _Modest_ formal attire, Iruka had stressed, looking at the girls. In other words, no deep necklines, at least knee-length skirts, all black.

Sasuke looked the best, in Naruto's opinion. Black dress shirt with the black slacks and shiny shoes. He'd loosened the tie as soon as the show had been over and they'd all collapsed on the couches.

Naruto fiddled with his own, orange tie. Iruka had never set any rules about ties and the blonde had wanted something bright on him somewhere. They could hear the rain pounding on the roof, but all of them were far too comfortable to move.

Iruka came out from behind the curtain, dressed in slacks and a dark green dress shirt. "You know you guys have to get off school property by eight, right?"

All of them flicked a glance at the clock high on the wall. "We've got ten minutes."

Iruka shook his head, chuckling. "It'll take you ten minutes to find your ride home. Out."

Everyone stood, grumbling. The girls slipped their shoes back on and the boys jumped down from the stage as they left, going for the exit closest to the parking lot. As they opened the doors, a rush of wind greeted them. The world seemed darker when the rain came, forming puddles of ebony.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. "Your brother's not here yet, is he?"

"Nope. Lazybutt."  
"Or he wanted to be a sadist and make us get wet."

"That too."

Naruto reached out, feeling the raindrops on his palm before running out into the parking lot, spinning and laughing. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow that, while he knew Naruto couldn't see it, the blonde knew it would be there.

Naruto stopped spinning and held a hand out. "Come on, teme!" he called. "Come dance with me!"

Sasuke was tempted, no doubt about it. Naruto's blonde hair was sticking to his face, the white dress shirt, black vest and slacks molding themselves to the contours of his body. The blonde strode forward, tugged at Sasuke's hand and led him out to the center of the parking lot.

"You're insane, you know that?" Sasuke told him as the blonde led him into a waltz. How and where Naruto had learned to waltz was an interesting story that Sasuke would have to hear another time.

Naruto kissed him lightly. "But you knew that when you started dating me."

Sasuke grumbled, but didn't object further to the dancing. If he was honest with himself, he didn't mind dancing—he didn't enjoy it—but he didn't hate it either. The darkness of the parking lot was briefly illuminated with a flash of lightning and Naruto jumped on instinct rather than because of actual fear. But dress shoes didn't have traction on their soles, causing the blonde to slip, bringing Sasuke down with him.

Naruto coughed as the air was knocked out of him before the coughing bubbled into laughter. Sasuke, who had landed partially on him, glared half-heartedly, but there was something in the onyx eyes that spoke of amusement.

"Insane and clumsy as hell." Sasuke shook his head, picking himself up, before offering a hand to Naruto.

Naruto took the hand, allowing him to be pulled to his feet. "Dancing in the rain always brings interesting results."

"And amusing ones." Itachi called from his Dodge Neon. Both teenagers turned to glare at him and Itachi smirked. "If you glare like that, I might be disinclined to be your ride home."

And both teenagers, grumbling, clambered into the car and Itachi's smirk grew, but he refrained from commenting about wet seats. Mostly because he'd caught a video of them on his cell phone—the best blackmail material an older brother could ask for.

-/-/-/-/-/

**A/N:** Two more days of school! Finals, argh. That means over an hour of boredom in all of my periods for the last days of school. But I've got uber-thick books to keep me entertained, so it's okay.


	13. The Home Depot Cart Disaster

_**First Days of School**_

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for not getting this up yesterday. My English teacher told me that one of my projects hadn't gotten to him (I sent it by email) so I needed to re-send it. Huge pain in the butt. But it is, officially, the last day of school! And our last day of Guitar was yesterday. *sob* I almost wish I could have one more day with my boys in that class. Almost.

-~-~-~-~

"_The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you."—Rita Mae Brown_

-~-~-~-~

The last days few days of school were always the most boring and the most interesting because you have that much time on your hands. Fortunately for the Guitar class, they had absolutely nothing to do except perhaps sleep. Naruto, Sasuke and Tenten, who had wandered in from Woodshop, were sitting on the floor playing with cards that they'd found in Drama.

As they went to begin their third game, Naruto looked at the others. "Ne, either of you know where Gaara is?"

Both of them frowned. "No, now that you mention it." And Gaara would usually tell them if he was sick or skipping.

"I'm right here." Gaara said, striding towards them with hands in his pocket.

Naruto smiled up at him. "Ne, where were you?"

"I was helping to move textbooks. I came to ask if you wanted to help."

The three glanced between each other and the sorry stack of cards. "Sure we'll help." All three of them said in perfect harmony. School Survival Skills 101: Any excuse to get out of class is a good excuse.

The Book Storage too was a too large, too cramped room. The delivery carts looked like they were stolen from Home Depot and, now that Sasuke looks closely at them, he has a feeling they were. Bright orange metal shelving rises nearly to the ceiling and Sasuke can see some of the other students climbing towards the top to recline against worn Spanish books.

A familiar face from their Global Studies class grinned at them from a high shelf. "Hey guys!" Kiba called, jumping down and landing on the cart.

"Dammit, Kiba, I told you to get off!" Sasuke felt the urge to run. It was Sakura. Usually, he had no problem with her. But since she was in charge in this setting, she tended to become dangerous.

Kiba smiled charmingly at her. "But it's so comfy on here! It's like a giant skateboard."  
"_Off. _" Sakura turned to them, a smile on her features. "You guys and this moron here, can go to Portable 23 and get their books."

"Sure thing." Naruto tossed a grin to Gaara. "Looks like you're driving."

"Why me?"

Everyone else gave him a flat look. "You really trust us to drive it?"

Gaara had to agree. "Fine." He waited for everyone else to clear out of the hallway before getting behind the cart and pushing it out. It wasn't heavy, just hard to control, barely fitting through the doorway.

They were halfway out to the portables when Naruto stopped and looked at the rest of them. "Ne…do any of you know where #23 actually is?"

The four of them glanced at each other before shaking their heads. Sasuke let out a sigh. "Who of us has classes in the portables?"

Kiba, Naruto and Tenten all raised their hands.

"Which portables?"

A long silence before, "56." "18." "3."

None of those were anywhere near 23. They soon learned that lesson by wandering through every row of portables, the people who had set up the portables had either been drunk or morons because portables 1-3 were on one side of the school and 4-13. The rest of the portables were scattered rather nicely so it was near impossible to find anything.

After nearly half an hour of searching, they sat on the cart, against Sakura's prohibitions, and leaned against each other. Had the weather been cooler, they might have been able to search longer, but as it was, 98 degrees with no wind was not the best weather for being outside.

"I _told_ you we should have stopped for gas at the last rest stop." Naruto remarked, grinning over his shoulder at Kiba, who replied in kind.

Sasuke slugged him in the shoulder, not hard, but enough so that he proved his point. "Smart-ass comments when we're in air conditioning, dobe."

There was the sharp clacking of heels before a shadow blocked them, for which they were all grateful. Sakura looked at them with arched eyebrows.

"What happened?"

"We got lost." Tenten replied honestly.: "Whoever designed this school was an idiot."

Sakura laughed. "You know that 23 is in the section right by the storage, right?"

All five of them looked at her flatly. "Please tell me that that's a bad joke." Kiba said.

"Nope." Sakura said cheerfully.

The flat looks became glares as they stood up simultaneously. Sakura stood aside so they could begin to push the cart. They glanced at each other, got the same evil thought, and gave the cart an almighty push so that it would reach the sloping hill that the portables had been put on before jumping onto the cart, making sure to hang on for dear life.

Naruto let out a whoop as they rushed by the chain link fence behind which was a muddy pond, as the students ran outside to find out what all the laughing and screaming was about. Of course they realized their one mistake in the entire plan as they saw the wall coming towards them.

They couldn't steer when they were on the cart.

There was a resounding crash as the cart slammed into the wall and they tumbled or were thrown off. Naruto's arm, which had been holding on to the cart's one handle, felt like it was ripped from its socket before he was thrown forward, landing on something soft..

Hearing a groan underneath him, Naruto raised himself up, just a bit in time see Sasuke look over his shoulder and say, "You have to lay off the ramen, dobe. You're heavy."

-/-/-/-/-/

**Author's Note:** SCHOOL IS OVER!!!!! Whoo! And it still hasn't sunk in yet that it's summer, but it will in about a week or so.


End file.
